Manizales, Colombia – Frío, Faldudo, but Feo?

COLOMBIA TIP #11 – Become friends with the locals – they know the places to go and the sights to see!

This past weekend, Vero, Lina, and I made the trip up to Manizales, Colombia.  It was very handy because this is Lina’s hometown!  She had a whole weekend planned for us and it was definitely time to get out of Armenia and take a break from thinking about school.

We went to the bus station, but had some time to kill before the next bus came.  I decided to take this time to learn some Spanish with Lina and so we went through the body parts.  A nice diagram for the visual learners may help:

The bus ride was about two and a half hours long.  For those who may not stay informed with Colombian news, there have been protests all over the country by farmers who are angry about imported goods being cheaper than the locally grown food.  They have been blocking roads between cities, preventing imported goods from entering, but also stopping people from getting around.  Luckily, when we were on the road, we only saw the protesters on the side, almost setting up for the next day (Saturday).  Many of the teachers at school were worried about us, but we made it alright!

Once we arrived, Lina’s sister, Paula, picked us up from the bus station.  Vero and I were staying at Lina’s aunt and uncle’s house because Lina’s house is full of university students who pay rent to her family.  The first night, although I was exhausted, we went out dancing.  Of course, I was asked for ID.  I knew exactly what they were saying, even though it was in a different language.  Why yes, I am older than 18, thanks!  We met some of Lina’s friends – Melissa (Mely), Monica (Moni), and a couple others who I forget now.  It was really fun, however, I still need to work on my dance moves!  I probably had the best sleep yet that night because I was a) extremely tired and b) the bed was much more comfortable than the crappy one that is in my apartment in Armenia.

The next morning, we met up with Mely again and another friend named Juan Felipe (Juan Fe).  They speak a little English, but it was a good opportunity for Vero and I to learn more Spanish.  We visited the Cathedral de Manizales, a giant church where it’s such a tourist attraction that they have tours.  We were able to climb all the way to the top and learn a bit about the cathedral’s history (well, Lina translated a bit of it for us).

Vero and I in front of the cathedral

Vero, Mely, Lina, and me on the way up the 394 steps to the top!

Mely and I

Vero is very into the photography!

After the cathedral, we went to go eat lunch – we all had patacons, which is flattened plantain.  I got mine with chicken, but here is a picture of Vero’s that just had cheese.  

It was a much different patacon than in Salento, which was super thin and crispy like a giant potato chip; this one was thicker was softer.  It was very good and very filling!

We then headed to Monumento a los Colonizadores (Monument of the Settlers) which was a group of statues that represented the original people that settled in Manizales.  It shows how they struggled up the hills on horses.

This city is known for its hills (when I told my students I was in Manizales, one said, “Miss, Manizales is known for the 3 F’s – frío (cold), faldudo (hilly), and feo (ugly)”).  I definitely agree with the first two, but I thought Manizales was pretty cool!

We then went to a park where we went on a Spanish biology tour.  The guide was very nice an patient with us and spoke very slowly so we had a chance to understand.  Us being biology people, we were probably being told things we already knew, but it was still a good Spanish lesson nonetheless.  We then found a low ropes course where we decided to put our skills to the test.

That night, a bunch of us headed to the termales or thermal pools.  It was basically a couple hot tubs that were the size of pools.  The water is heated directly by the nearby volcanoes, so it’s very hot, almost too hot.  But it was very nice to relax in the warm water.

Overall, it was a great weekend getaway.  Lina was our Spanish lifeline, but I think we learned a good chunk of the language during the weekend too!

The other crazy thing that happened these past few days was that there was a big tremor here in Armenia!  I was sitting on my bed and all of a sudden I felt like the room was shaking.  I didn’t realize it at first, but then I realized the whole apartment was shaking.  It only lasted for about 5 seconds or so, so by the time I realized what was happening, it was over.  Afterwards, I was thinking, wow I wonder what we’re supposed to do on the 5^th floor of 6 if a serious earthquake were to occur?  Something that we should probably figure out!

Toughness of Teaching

COLOMBIA TIP #8 – As hard as you try, you cannot avoid culture shock.

The second week of teaching has proven to be difficult.  So apparently I’m supposed to teach math.  For real.  This seems like such a daunting task with only hour long classes combined with the amount of non-productive talking that students engage in.  The Grade 9 classes have been going alright because Geometry is probably my favourite part of Math – it’s fun to plan as well as to teach; you can be creative!  But with the Grade 10s, it’s a different story.  The curriculum is all mixed here with Math from Ontario’s Grade 10, 11, and 12 curriculum (I am very happy that I did a student teaching placement in Grade 12 this past year to help me prepare!).  I am almost relearning along with the students and don’t have as much room to be creative.  This is especially difficult with my one Grade 10 class that is very kinaesthetic, aka they don’t do well just sitting in desks.  One of my lessons with them last week did not go so well – partially my sub-par explaining, partially the students not making the effort to pay attention and learn.  I mentioned it to my principal and the next day he made a stop by my class at the beginning (of course, the class was full of angels when he was in the room).  The second run at the same material went so much better, but I can’t afford to take so much time for one topic.  I’m definitely going to need to learn to be more efficient and come up with better explanations, which unfortunately I think only comes with experience.  My principal visited me later in the week and we had a heart to heart – he said that I need to have more confidence in myself because he knows I can do it, other teachers know I can do it, associate teachers have seen me do it, and that is why I was hired!  I can’t say I haven’t heard that before… being a perfectionist is both a blessing and a curse.  So far, I don’t feel as if I’m doing a great job, or at least as good of a job as I could be.  It might be a combination of the different culture and being a new teacher, and probably many other factors too.  But what I’m told the difference is, is that instead of saying the students need to pay attention more, or put in more effort, etc, I blame myself.  Veronica says I put way too much pressure on myself, which I guess is true, but I also feel a lot of pressure teaching at a school where the parents are paying for their child’s education and not just getting it for free.  Plus the added dimension of me looking like I could be a student, I feel like I need to almost prove that I am qualified and deserve to be where I am.  It’s quite complicated and I apologize that you had to read through my ranting, but I am hoping that this is just a beginning-of-the-year-especially-as-a-first-year-teacher thing.  I need to start enforcing more of my consequences and being a little more strict to keep us going in the right direction.  Tomorrow I am going to try to be super kinaesthetic with the Grade 10s – I made a giant Cartesian plane on the floor of my classroom and we are making life-size functions!  They better learn a lot.

Another big event that happened this past week was the Parent Open House!  I wasn’t as nervous as expected, which was great.  Especially because, once again, these are parents who are paying big bucks for their child(ren) to attend this school.  First, there was an assembly in the coliseum where us teachers had to stand and awkwardly wave all over again.  Then the parents headed to their child’s homeroom class where they would stay the whole night.  The teachers rotated around to the different classrooms of parents, explaining a bit about themselves, their class, their expectations, and what topics will be taught.  Luckily, the foreign teachers that didn’t know Spanish were given an honours student to act as our translator – I was paired with a Grade 11 student named Lilia.  She was lovely!  I was very glad to have her tag along and make what I said sound better.  Most of the parents were very sweet and friendly, jokingly asking how old I was and commenting that all of the boys will fall in love with me and the girls will want to be like me.  There were a few parents that gave me the is-she-even-qualified-to-teach look – they weren’t directly questioning or rude to my face, but I could tell by their body language they were a little unimpressed.  But now it is my job to prove them wrong.  So when I’m having a bad day, I’ll just think of those parents (and the students of course too), and get re-energized for school.

So I’m not sure if this really classifies as culture shock, or more teaching shock.  But either way, I’m in a bit of a rut and need to find a way to get out of it.  This week during my planning periods (because somehow I seem to get nothing done during those periods anyway) I am going to follow my favourite Grade 10 class to various classes to see how other teachers enforce rules, cater to the students’ learning styles, and just how they teach!  I hope to learn a lot from it and find some things that I can apply to my own classroom.

First Week of School!

COLOMBIA TIP #35 – When they say the students are loud and chatty here, they weren’t kidding.

Well, I survived my first week of school!  I think it’s safe to say it was the longest week of my life.  Getting on the bus at 6:45am, teaching 4-5 hour long classes filled with loud, crazy, curious, funny, tricky Grade 9 and 10s, and not getting home til around 3:45 or 5pm is enough to kill a person.  Probably only the strongest will make it, and I plan to be one of them.

The first day of school was actually pretty good!  I was not nearly as much of a wreck as I thought I would be.  Little Ms. Wilson is growing up!  First, all of high school/middle school went to the Gym/”Coliseum” as they call it for an opening assembly.  Little did we know that the principal, Mr. Loiza, was going to introduce all of us new teachers in front of everyone!  One by one as we stood up and awkwardly and waved, the students in the crowd would start up the chatter every time.  For the rest of the day, I had one Grade 9 class and both Grade 10 classes.  The hardest thing is to get them to be quiet!  It seriously doesn’t work.  Then you find yourself repeating instructions cause they didn’t listen the first time.  I’ll need to figure out a system for this.  The second hardest thing is getting them to speak in English.  I tried to explain how a major part of why they came to this school was because they want to learn English, and as much as I want to learn Spanish (cause seriously, it seems like the slowest process ever and I still feel lost going around town), I want them to practice their English in the classroom.  I’m going to have to come up with some form of bonus for when students actually do use English in class.

One of the major things that was stressed to us about the students here is that you really need to get to know them.  I kind of thought, “Well, yeah…” but apparently some teachers don’t really think that way and want to keep school completely separate from personal life.  I think that is going to be tricky sometimes here, working in and living in the same city.  Heck, I ran into one of my students on the elevator the other day.  There’s no avoiding that.  But anyway, on the first day of school, I had a bunch of pictures of me and asked the students what they thought of when they saw them.  The first thing they said was, “You play futbol!”  Yes, soccer is big here!  The second thing they said was, “You have a boyfriend!”  And every time, I would laugh – “No, actually that’s a picture of me at a Toronto Maple Leaf game with my BROTHER.”  Then I also had the picture of Camilo Villegas and I up and I only had one student know it was him!  But once I mentioned the name, everybody knew who he was.  I also had the students fill in a Get-To-Know-You sheet and there were some pretty funny answers including:
-What is one thing you would like me to know about you?
“Sometimes I won’t do my homework.”
“I was born in Toronto, Canada but I don’t remember anything.”
“That what ever you need and that I can help you with you can count on me.”
“I get bored in class.”
“I talk a lot.”
And though I don’t think he read the question correctly: “How many years you have?  Your cell phone, your facebook”
And my personal favourite:
-How do you learn best?
“I learn best with a beautiful teacher.”
I also had a few moments of “Wow I watch that TV show too…” when I read that some students’ favourite TV shows included Glee, Grey’s Anatomy, and Pretty Little Liars.
So ask you can see, they’re pretty normal kids.  They are funny, nice, and just plain talkative!  But we’ve gotten off to a pretty okay start, so let’s hope I can keep it up!

Yesterday, after second period when the students get a 30 minute recess, Bill came over to my classroom and said, “So we’re going to immigration in half an hour, so if you want to whip something up for your next couple classes…”  WHAT?  That is another common theme here – last minute announcements and events are quite common.  Luckily the lesson that I had that day was pretty student run as they were moving around to different stations.  So I quickly wrote a note to the substituting teacher (in English, so I was really hoping they could understand it) and ran over to the staff room.  I then found out that Lina, the High School Counsellor, was going to be covering my class.  I breathed a sigh of relief – she speaks English!  And did I mention she’s Vero’s and my new roommate?  So if anything were to go crazy, she would for sure let me know.  So we went to immigration for about an hour and a half to get more fingerprints taken and a picture that I was not really ready for (I hate my hair).  When I got back to school, it was halfway through the next period and Amber was covering the class.  They were all over the place, lying on the floor, walking around, some looked as if they were doing work, but most were not.  It took a bit for me to corral them up and assign their homework for the weekend (“Nooo Miiiiiiissssssss, we have homework on a Friday?”)  Amber later told me that they were being really good and she was sitting there thinking to herself, “Wow, what happened to this class, they’re so well-behaved now!”  If that’s the case, I do not want to know what bad is.

School was also only for half the day yesterday because the teachers were all invited to go to a Finka (farm – but when they say “farm”, they mean “5 star hotel resort type thing.”  We had a big lunch and had the chance to go swimming, talk to teachers not about school things, learn some more Spanish, and DANCE.  Oh my gosh, I was coaxed into dancing probably about 10 times last night, which was 10 times too many.  I kept saying, “No puedo baliar” (“I can’t dance”), but the Colombian teachers are too nice and said, “Nooo you can!”  I think they were just saying that.  Somehow, I also found myself dancing with someone who may have been the President of the Parents’ Board three times and my principal twice (who is also one of the parents of my students).  But it was really fun!  I needed that time to relax and have some fun after that long week.

Me, Matt, Sheryl, Elia, Bill, and Vero – the new teachers at GI!

Outside school, we finally got a new washing machine!  It was actually a really good deal for $750,000 pesos ($375) but it also came with a microwave!  We were so surprised when they came to deliver it that same night and installed it the next day.  Colombian time didn’t come into effect in that scenario.  I’m really looking forward to doing some laundry today, but I’ll have to figure out the Spanish labels on the buttons…

Hiking in Cocora to Estrella de Agua

COLOMBIA TIP #46 – Only go hiking up that mountain if you are prepared to hike back down.

Allison invited a bunch of us gringo teachers to join a group from the university on a hiking trip.  It started in Salento, the same place where we hiked about a week earlier.  However, this time we were heading into the valley of Cocora and then up to Estrella de Agua (Star of Water).  It was supposedly a medium-hard hike – boy did I not know what I was getting myself into.  Looking back, I’m very glad that I went, but I really hated it during the climb.  There were rickety bridges that could only take one person going across at a time and it made me nervous when they swung side to side.  It felt like at least a 55° upward slope at times, constantly zig-zagging up the side of the mountain.  You would think you were reaching the top of a hill when instead you’d make a 180° turn and see an even steeper slope ahead.  Many breaks were taken, much water was consumed, and many muscles ached.  I even had a little ankle twist occur, but luckily my ankles are used to that sort of clumsiness.

The beginning of the journey

Diana (pronounced Dee-anna) crossing one of the bridges.  She’s from Colombia and we met her on the hike!  She’s going to Korea in a couple weeks for her Master’s Degree which is a big deal.  She was teaching us Spanish as we hiked and was really nice!

Check out that path and slope combo…

“The scenery is just so ugly” -Elia

Once we (finally) reached our destination, we stopped to have lunch (I had packed a peanut butter sandwich with our $8 imported PB).  We had been hiking for about 4.5 hours and had reached 4000 metres (12,000 ft)!  I looked up Mount Everest’s height later and it is 8848 metres – almost halfway!  I challenge anyone to a race when I get back cause I am going to be so fit from this exercising in altitude thing.

Caitlin, Agusto (Allison’s boyfriend), Allison, Amber, Elia, and Matt!  WE MADE IT.

There was also a place nearby with a small water fall.  Some people went swimming in this water, but they were absolutely crazy because it was FREEZING.  My shins were shakin’ after I went to take this picture.

On the hike back down, I was loving the fact that we were going down hill (mostly), but also stumbling down cause I was so exhausted from the climb up.

I decided I better take more pictures on the way down when I actually had some energy to spare.

We stopped at a place called Acaime – a hummingbird sanctuary.  Apparently there are more birds in the morning, but I was still impressed with the number that were flying around!  I don’t think I had ever actually seen a hummingbird before then, and they’re pretty neat.  We got some pretty good shots!

More Orientation, Teachers, & Getting Ready

COLOMBIA TIP #10 – Do not flush toilet paper down the toilet; instead place it in the garbage can beside you.

Yep, you read that correctly.  I guess the toilets don’t do so well with the flushing of extra materials, so toilet paper goes in the garbage bins…

Last Thursday the rest of the teachers had their first day of school with us.  All of the teachers and administrators sat in a big circle in the gym area and Jaime the School Director said we were going to go around and say our name, where we were from, and how long we’ve been at the school.  My jaw dropped – we were going to have to go through about 50-75 people!  Plus, some of the Colombian teachers don’t speak English and I certainly don’t speak much Spanish, so for some people I didn’t catch their name or anything unfortunately.  When it came around to my turn, I added, “Necesito practicar mi español”, aka “I need to practice my Spanish.”  I got a few laughs!  That phrase has become my new favourite saying.  After the huge introduction circle, we had a bit of time before we had to be at our next set of meetings.  One of the Colombian teachers approached me and asked, “Are you a golfer?”  He must’ve seen my Titleist book bag (thanks Marsey & Gramps!) and took a wild guess!  I later found out his name is Carlos and he’s the Music teacher.

One day I ate lunch with Carlos and a couple other teachers and we were having a conversation about sports.  I asked Carlos if there were any good golf courses in Armenia (apparently there’s only a private one, so we can’t go there unless we meet a nice member).  He asked if I had heard of Camilo Villegas and I was really excited to tell him the story that had just happened at the RBC Canadian Open just a week before I came here – as Camilo tee’d off for the Pro-Am, I called his name told him I was going to Colombia the next day!  He was fairly impressed and I asked if there were any specific places I should visit.  We had a nice chat!  I showed Carlos the picture of Camilo and I and he thought it was so cool!

(Camilo & I at the RBC Canadian Open the day before I came to Colombia)

But then Carlos one-upped me by saying that he used to play golf with Camilo back in the day, which is pretty sweet.  I also found out that one of the Grade 8s is some sort of Junior Champion in all of Colombia, so I’ll likely have him in my Grade 9 class next year!

Throughout these days, there have been a few more foreign teachers I’ve had a chance to meet and talk to:
-Charlotte (Grade 6 English & Social Studies; London, England – 3rd year here, but 1st year as a teacher as she started out as an assistant)
-Stephanie (Grade ?; Florida – 5th year here).  Both of her parents are Colombian, but she gave up her Colombian citizenship in order to work as a foreigner here
-Emily (Grade ?; New Jersey – 3rd year here).  She married a Colombian and had a baby boy last year!

Having staff meetings has been pretty interesting with the language differences.  Everything takes twice as long because it needs to be said in both Spanish and English.  Sometimes there are stretches of a few minutes in only Spanish where I get completely lost and frustrated as I try to pick up words that I recognize.  Then we’ll usually get the short story of the entire conversation that just happened.  It’s definitely helping with my understanding (a little, I think).  However, there have been some important meetings that have been only in Spanish.  The Special Cases meeting where we learned about some of the IEPs and about specific students that have difficulties was all in Spanish!  I tried to Google Translate the writing on the Powerpoints to got a better idea, though there was a little English translation happening.  The other one was the Emergency Procedures meeting, as in what to do in case of fire, earthquake, etc.  Probably necessary to know, especially with the huge earthquake that Armenia had in 1999.  Hopefully we have enough common sense to guide us!

We also got the keys to our classroom – I’m in room C4.  This is my hallway:

It’s outside.  Not in a building.  I think that’s one of my favourite things about this school, as silly as that is.  My classroom is just on the left, but you can’t really see it from this picture.  They even put our names outside of our doors, which looks very official.  Unfortunately, mine looks like this:

But don’t worry!  It’s going to be changed.  Perhaps I should request it to say Katie instead?  They seem to have some difficulties with “Katherine” here – so far my classroom nameplate has been incorrect, my email was spelled “Kathrine”, and on my medical check up form it was listed as “Kateherine.”  I’m considering legally changing my name to just KT.  Thoughts?

Orientation at GI School

COLOMBIA TIP #33 – Be prepared to lose some blood, give your fingerprints, and sign your life away.

These past few days have been orientation time for us new teachers.  We’ve been picked up by the school transportation around 7:30am each morning to go to school.  One morning, the doorman buzzed our room informing us that the transportation had arrived and we were still in our PJs – we got ready in record time that day.  We’ve mostly been learning about the procedures, rules, structure of the school, etc.  There are a few things that are different from home, but then again, things can be pretty different from school to school at home too.  Hopefully I can keep all the rules straight and not have to use many of the discipline forms and tactics!  They also gave us tips on how to travel around safely and recommended some good places to visit, which is not something you’d think your principals would do!  Another common theme of the week has been signing forms.  All of the fine print is in Spanish, so I kind of just go along with it when I’m told to sign on this line here and that one there.  They’re also a big fan of fingerprints here; I’ve probably stamped my right index finger 10-15 times on various documents already.  Us ladies also had to have another blood test, which will be used to determine if we’re pregnant (fairly sure I’m alright in that department).

The other night we had a knock on our door and met Alison (Grade 3; Minnesota – 3rd year here) – she came bearing gifts of various types of Colombian beer (unfortunately I’m not a beer drinker, but I have almost been persuaded to try)!  As returning foreign teachers have been arriving back in Colombia over the last few days, we’ve met a bunch more:

-Amber (Grade 7 & 8 Science; Maryland – 2nd year here) – she’s also got the same birthday as me!  There was also a brief mention of how she is probably not signing on for a 3rd year, so halfway through the year, I should ask if I want to take her position for next year!  We’ll see how this year goes in Math first though.
-Caitlin (Grade 5 Social Studies & English; Minnesota – 2nd year here)
-Ben (Grade 7 & 8 English; Minnesota – 2nd year here).  Ben and Caitlin are married and expecting their first baby in January!  When we heard that maternity leave in Colombia is three months, the Canadians went, “THAT’S IT?!”, while the Americans went, “WOW SO MUCH!”

There are still a few more foreign teachers that I need to meet, as well as the Colombian teachers at the school too!

I think my Spanish is improving slowly, but everyday I’m realizing how much French I actually know (Spanish is very similar to French, and I’ve noticed that Bill, Vee, and I all sort of revert to the French words of things when we’re unsure of the Spanish words)!  But my proudest moment so far was when we were out to dinner and I wanted to take my leftovers home.  I proceeded to get the waiter’s attention and ask for a box (after asking Allison what to say first, of course), but it worked!  I said, “Señor?  Por favor me da una caja?  Gracias!”  Woohoo!